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Opus 111, 118, 124 and 133. The final batch.80. Erin (Morodiene) - Op 111 No 2 Ziemlich langsam Just so beautiful, the tempo is just fabulous, it really lets the expression shine through, keeping me on the edge of my seat. Wonderful expression, gorgeous voicing and phrasing. Words cannot express my admiration for this performance! And a wonderful dedication!

81. gingko2 - op. 118 no. 1, Children's Sonata, Allegro I think your notes expressed it well, it seems simple but, like most Schumann it isn't. I think you gave us a great performance, lots of dynamic and expressive contrast. The recording was a problem because it clipped badly at the higher levels, you might have overdone the Audacity volume!

82. SwissMS/Doris - Opus 118 No 1 Sonata in G Theme and Variations How great to be able to learn an ABRSM piece and then use it here! The theme was clear and the variations showed that too. There was nice phrasing and good contrasts of mood but I suspect the tempo needs to increase a couple of notches, though I understand how that impacts the variations that have faster note values!!

83. stumbler / Dave - Albumblatter op 124, no 5, Phantasietanz (Fantastic Dance) Over before I could collect my thoughts! This has a wonderful feel to it, I got the dance impression and the fantasy too. Nice phrasing.

84. Outo - Gesange der Frohe op 133-1And the end of the recital! I think you overstated the problems, it sounded like a smooth and restrained performance, lovingly phrased and with a sense of where it was heading. A lovely finale.

I listened to this a few times, just to get an idea of the piece I don't remember listening to before and I wanted to give Schumann one more chance to change my mind about him as a composer. Your playing is generally so competent that it isn't much different than many live pro recordings. I didn't like the piece that much, but I still enjoyed some moments in this piece more than most of Schumann. It's a mixed bag, but I guess that isn't a problem for me really. The first movement is the best and then it gets downhill from there and in the end one feels kind of disappointed (not on your playing though!).

The first movement was really good, especially considering you didn't have a perfectly tuned and regulated grand to record. I listened to it a few extra times just because I liked it.

In the beginning of the 2nd movement I got the feeling that you didn’t really get into the mood. I wouldn't blame you, it is kind of boring... I feel you were much better connected with the less tender parts in the piece, could it be because you could let out your real feelings towards the piece?The scherzo was a bit messy and too Schumanish to my taste.

In the Rondo I felt some of your tempo choices weren't quite right. Also felt like you hurried unnecessarily in some parts. Maybe you just wanted to get it over with asap?

But I think this recording still shows that you are a real pro! Thank you!

And I loved it that you even added some noices to make it like an authentic live recording with an audience

I just want to congratulate everyone. Been listening. Still got some to go. Nice to listen to everybody's work. As usual, I don't list critical thoughts one each one. Just a congratulations to everyone. Would especially like to thank wimpiano for taking over Ein Choral. Nicely done.

And I loved it that you even added some noices to make it like an authentic live recording with an audience

What noices? I didn't add anything...

Originally Posted by outo

In the beginning of the 2nd movement I got the feeling that you didn’t really get into the mood. I wouldn't blame you, it is kind of boring... I feel you were much better connected with the less tender parts in the piece, could it be because you could let out your real feelings towards the piece?

Yeah, I had a problem with 2nd movement, I started to work on it very late. I couldn't understand it. I wanted it to be just simple, but I was still struggling with notes .

Originally Posted by outo

In the Rondo I felt some of your tempo choices weren't quite right. Also felt like you hurried unnecessarily in some parts. Maybe you just wanted to get it over with asap?

Rondo was too slow, usually performers play it faster, but in less than four months I couldn't get it into right tempo. Probably you felt it was rushed because I wasn't free in this tempo yet and I had to push it in some spots to not loose it.

Originally Posted by outo

But I think this recording still shows that you are a real pro! Thank you!

And I loved it that you even added some noices to make it like an authentic live recording with an audience

What noices? I didn't add anything...

The loud breathing at some points

Ah, this. Yeah, I sometimes breathe out loudly when I play. I think I need to do it to relax, it's not something noticable when I'm on stage. After I learn how to use audacity better maybe I'll try to remove this kind of noises .

Verqueue, I've had not time to listen to the recital but did just listen to your Schumann... For someone that does not "understand Schumann" and doesn't even like him all that much... that is pretty magnificent playing. I would like to hear what you do with someone you understand and like!

Your piano still sounded good and fit for purposeThis doesn`t sound that sad, but has a normal nostalgic feel to it. You played a blinder and brought this out in the right way, I think.

62 Sam S 68 29

Wow! Loved this stonking piece, intertwined with more gentle bits . . You did it proud wi the dynamics Wonderful!

63 Sam S 68 30

This is totally pleasant, you`re well at home here!

64 Carey Phil Jones 68 31

Dunno about the war theme, it was certainly lively! Difficult to figure out where it goes, so it`s also difficult to pass meaningful comment. But it was an excellent listen and it`s always good to hear you play,

65 Anne H 68 32

Another difficult to follow piece. Having never heard these before, unless it`s totally simple, you have to listen a few times. Now, you handled it well and sound like you enjoy this. And what you said about Schumann and others, is true for me. I would never have played any of `em . . .

Sorry, I wasn't able to do my next installation until today. I wanted to get the entirety of the Op 21 together, so this segment is a bit longer:

21. peterws - Pleading Child What a short little gem! I was surprised by the sound you chose for this, it sounded just like an old upright that was slightly detuned. Very cool effect. And better to have deliberate mistakes than accidental ones

22. dynamobt/Marilyn - Perfect Happiness Op 15 no 5 I enjoy your rubato in this piece which keeps the repetitious nature more interesting. I definitely hear you bringing out the top while making the other voices less. Good job!

23. ElaineAllegro - Opus 15, Kinderszenen, #6: Wichtige Begebenheit (Great Adventure) I didn’t hear any missteps, but great job on those dotted octaves. Octaves themselves are tough, but add a dotted rhythm and look out! I think you did a fine job of this and I encourage you to work on it again at some point in the future - maybe when you can approach your teacher about it to see about the tempo, but I honestly wasn’t bothered by your choice of tempo.

24. dynamobt/Marilyn - Dreaming Op 15 no 7 One of the few Schumann pieces I recognize (outside the Op 68)! I love the tenderness you give this soaring melody. To me it sounds more like day dreaming on a sunny lazy afternoon.

25. Forrest Halford - Schumann Op. 15, #8 "By the Fireside: You give this piece a lightheartedness and joy in how you play it. I really enjoyed the syncopated LH.

26. Forrest Halford - Schumann Op. 15, #9 "Knight of the Rocking Horse" This really does sound like a rocking horse, and from a child’s pint of view - all of the excitement that is going through their imagination as if they are on a real horse!

27. Forrest Halford - Schumann Op. 15, #11 "Frightening" LOL I thought the dishes were my husband in the other room! Hope the move went well, even if you had to endure the fleabag motel . I’m not sure if Schumann hit the nail on the head with this title (or was it the editor’s choice? I always wonder about that). I enjoyed your playing, dishes et. al. I think we can all relate to the distractions while trying to practice and record!

28. Moonsh1ne (Ken) - Op. 15, No .13 Kinderszenen - Der Dichter Spricht (The Poet Speaks) You can do this after 18 months of piano??? Very fine work! I can tell you knew exactly what you wanted to do musically. Do I hear your wife doing dishes in the background as well? That seems to be a common theme

29., 30., 31. Tim Adrianson - Kreisleriana Op 16 Tim, I know you usually do extensive research on the pieces that you play. Do you have any enlightening tidbits on this Opus? I’ve heard of Kreisleriana from college days when we studied it (but not played). There are some really great moments in this piece that inspire me to want to play it, although I fear it’s a bit beyond me. :)#2 seems to have some beautiful pastoral moments (I think it was 2, it’s hard to tell where the delineation is) that you play beautifully. I love #4… very touching the way you play this.

I wish I knew more about this to give more constructive comments, but all I can say is thank you for participating with this great work!

32. Pover - Op.18 Schumann Arabeske Another familiar piece, I think I had listened to this originally when considering what pieces to play. I enjoyed the dotted rhythm - reminded me of practice sessions where I practice in swinging 8ths . I think we are often our harshest critics. I don’t find anything wrong with your interpretation. Sometimes we feel it inside more strongly, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come across strongly when you’re not feeling it. Great work!

33. peterws - Novelletten 21 1 It looks like Rondo was one of Schumann’s favorite forms. I like the energy you play throughout this piece, and I didn’t notice the flub . Congrats on playing from memory too!

34. chopinoholic (Paul de Koning) - Novelette op.21 no.2 Wow, this piece sounds like it would be quite a technical challenge - finger killer for sure! Hopefully yours fared better than that. With all that going on I can see how it would be difficult to be musical with it, but you still were able to get quite a bit in there. Great playing!

35. Tim Adrianson - Noveletten #5 Another very playful theme from Schumann! I really love the slow B section, however…I’d be content if the whole piece consisted of that . Amazing playing, again Tim.

36. Tim Adrianson - Noveletten, #6 Did you study this previously? I’m amazed at how much you’ve played for this recital, and at this level. This piece in particular seems very polished and well-known to you, so I suspect it’s been in your repertoire over the years.

04. Valencia - Davidsbuendlertaenze Op. 6 No. 10 - Balladenmassig sehr raschI see what you mean with the lyrical/poetic pieces being attributed to Florestan. I love the piece!

05. Richard (zrtf90) - Davidsbuendlertaenze op.6, Nr.15 "Frisch"I really like the arpeggios, they sound like a little stream.. This is a good example of Schumann's music. It creates an atmoshpere, tells a story. Brilliant!

06. Richard (zrtf90) - Davidsbuendlertaenze, Op. 6 No. 16, Mit gutem HumorI know the feeling that when you listen to your recording that it sounds so much worse than it does on your piano.I can assure you though that it sounds good! You could have added some humor though

next batch:08. timmyab - Three pieces from Carnival op 9I've looked at the score and am afraid that it will take me another twenty years to be able to play it like you.You make it sound easy but it certainly isn't. I can feel the atmosphere of late night carnaval!

10. Richard (zrtf90) - Des Abends, Op. 12 No. 1One of my favourite Schumann pieces and you make it sing! I recognize your style from the Op 6. No 15.Both pieces make me think of a landscape with flowing streams with a setting sun in the summer.

12. dire tonic - Warum? Op. 12 no.3I am not really into digital pianos but I can see why your setup gets so much praise. It sounds very good!Of course that's only possible because you play this piece very well!

13. FarmGirl - Op12 No 4 GrillenWonderful! Well played, it flows perfectly.It's a hard piece and I cannot imagine what it is to be four weeks without practice. That must be so annoying.

14. hreichgott / Heather W. Reichgott - Fantasiestucke Op. 12 no. 5 In der NachtI suppose you have read the story before you played it. Especially in the first and last part I hear him fighting against the waves!What a sad story though when you hear hime give up and drown.. Wonderfully captured!

15. hreichgott / Heather W. Reichgott - Fantasiestucke Op. 12 no. 6 FabelThe start (repeated at the end) sounds so funny and bouncy. They really sneak out don't they Your playing is so good that it has me really focus on just the music and not the playing.

16. hreichgott / Heather W. Reichgott - Fantasiestucke Op. 12 no. 7 Traumes-WirrenThe first section is the type of music my kids love, so perfectly happy!! Pulls a huge smile on my face!Then the second part, so dark.. Poor kid who dreams this. The repeated theme in the last bit sounds like a party where the kids are so wild that it gets out of hand At that point they had too much candy

Next batch comes soon. It's been a bit hard to find time to sit and write.

1 In addition to being an active pianist and composer for solo piano, and a music critic, Schumann also had a keen interest in the literature of his time. One of the popular writers then was E.T.A. Hoffmann (the one referenced in Jacques Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" operetta). Schumann was a great admirer of Hoffmann's stories, and one of Hoffmann's "running" characters in several of his tales was an eccentric music conductor named Johannes Kreisler. So, Schumann took it upon himself to write eight Fantasy pieces, all based on the various adventures in the different tales in which Kreisler played a part.

2 Schumann dedicated this work to Frederic Chopin, and shared it with him; but evidently Chopin returned the work without comment. Schumann also told Clara Wieck (his soon-to-be wife) that she was a significant contributor to its genesis, although he was not more specific than that in his commentary. He wrote the entire set of eight fantasy pieces in only four days, and considered it to be one of his finest efforts.

3 I used the Dover edition, which contains both Clara Wieck's original editing, and some revisions based on subsequent scholarship. In every case, I elected to play Clara Wieck's original version: although some of the passages are unquestionably strange, I thought that they somehow fit the overall conception better than the "corrections". For me, the piano writing is so original and unique, and I never got tired of teasing out the many subtle voicings and gestures that just abound throughout in this score. A tough, tough set of pieces, but well worth it!

You judged correctly that I was more comfortable with the two Novelletten, because I had worked on both extensively some 40 - 50 years back. It was nice to be able to revisit them after all those years. As I've mentioned in this thread, the Novelletten are for some reason very seldom programmed, but to me they are as accessible and delightful as the Fantasiestuecke or the Carnaval, which are played much more often.

I give a special tip of the hat to Chopinoholic for taking on Novellette #2: I always ran out of gas trying to get through that one, although I think it's the most effective of these considerable pieces!

Thank you very kindly wimpiano for the comments.I am so glad that what I was trying to communicate in the music came across Love the bit about the party going badly/crazily after too much candy toward the end of Traumes-Wirren, that's exactly the right description.

Album for the YoungThis will be the first and probably the last time I will ever listen to this opus completely, but you guys deserve it

Since most of the pieces I don't like at all, it's difficult to express so many positive feelings created by the music itself. So please excuse me if I make boring technical comments instead. And take them as coming from a non-expert, I could not have played these any better myself. Every one of you have my respect for your work!

43. scorpio - Op. 68, No. 1 - MelodyThat was very nice and clean!

44. pianonewbie1 (Piano_primo) - Soldier's March Opus 68I believe it's easier for children to play this kind of empty music, but good work anyway

45. Tom Christian - Trallerliedchen Op 68 No 3Good start! You were careful with the rhythm and notes, but you could breathe a little bit between the phrases in the RH and the dynamics weren't really there yet.

46. WimPiano - Op. 68 No 4 - Ein ChoralA nice little chorale. No dynamic variation in the score, I think I would have taken some liberties to make it more interesting. If you still play this, you could try to be a little more careful with playing the notes together at some parts. But nice work!

47. scorpio - Op. 68, No. 6 - The Poor OrphanThis album for the young (prodigies?) gets technically difficult really fast... At some point I thought it could be used for sight reading practice, but was I wrong.

To make this one sound really good would require so much skill with dynamics, tempo changes, phrasing and then all those interval figurations (which sounded a bit too heavy to me now). All this skill is usually acquired with more experience. So good work getting the basics right!

48. Ohio_Mark - The Hunting SongAnd next a piece with many challenges in articulation. I don't think your tempo was bad and it wasn't that uneven either, but I missed the dynamics to make this piece even a little interesting...

49. ajames - Op. 68, 8. Wilder ReiterGood work! But I could somewhat hear the tension created in the staccato notes by you pushing for the tempo and it didn't allow for much expression. Then again maybe there just isn't much to express in this kind of a piece.

What happened to Sicilienne? No one picked it? IMO It's one of the nicer one in this op

51. SwissMS/Doris - Opus 68 No. 12 Knecht RuprechtYou captured the mood of the character really well! Maybe slightly uneven in some parts, but in general it was very well done.

52. WimPiano - Kleine Studie - Album fur die Jugend - Op. 68 No. 14Many good things in this little study, I think you just needed more practice time to achieve more evenness. And sometimes you hurried a bit

53. earlofmar - Fruhlingsgesang (Spring song) Op 68 No 15You are right about this being quite complex and it requires skillful voicing of the melody. Sometimes it's really difficult to keep the legato melody together with the way Schumann writes, especially if one does not have big hands. You managed some parts better than others.

IMO You should not shy away from the use pedal, even if it's not written on the score. It's totally acceptable to use the pedal to help when your fingers are not enough. And pedal isn't always written on the score, but it would have been used anyway in the romantic era. And depending on the piano you play on, the sound may be just too dry to play something like this without. Schumann's pianos were far different from ours.

55. peterws - Roaming in the Morning op 68 17That was lively indeed! I think your set up didn't bring out the dynamics enough, but nice playing

56. ClsscLib - Opus 68 No 18 Reaper's SongWell played! Maybe the piano parts could have been a bit more delicate.

57. earlofmar - Kleine Romanze (Little romance) Op 68 No 19I think your playing was ok, but I don't see the romance in this piece at all. Of course Schumann's idea of a romance might be quite different to mine

I wouldn’t worry about the tempo, but rather try to get a bit more smoothness into the piece and experiment with the pedalling, it easily gets quite choppy (I hope you get what I mean, a better English word doesn't come to me now).

1 In addition to being an active pianist and composer for solo piano, and a music critic, Schumann also had a keen interest in the literature of his time. One of the popular writers then was E.T.A. Hoffmann (the one referenced in Jacques Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" operetta). Schumann was a great admirer of Hoffmann's stories, and one of Hoffmann's "running" characters in several of his tales was an eccentric music conductor named Johannes Kreisler. So, Schumann took it upon himself to write eight Fantasy pieces, all based on the various adventures in the different tales in which Kreisler played a part.

2 Schumann dedicated this work to Frederic Chopin, and shared it with him; but evidently Chopin returned the work without comment. Schumann also told Clara Wieck (his soon-to-be wife) that she was a significant contributor to its genesis, although he was not more specific than that in his commentary. He wrote the entire set of eight fantasy pieces in only four days, and considered it to be one of his finest efforts.

3 I used the Dover edition, which contains both Clara Wieck's original editing, and some revisions based on subsequent scholarship. In every case, I elected to play Clara Wieck's original version: although some of the passages are unquestionably strange, I thought that they somehow fit the overall conception better than the "corrections". For me, the piano writing is so original and unique, and I never got tired of teasing out the many subtle voicings and gestures that just abound throughout in this score. A tough, tough set of pieces, but well worth it!

You judged correctly that I was more comfortable with the two Novelletten, because I had worked on both extensively some 40 - 50 years back. It was nice to be able to revisit them after all those years. As I've mentioned in this thread, the Novelletten are for some reason very seldom programmed, but to me they are as accessible and delightful as the Fantasiestuecke or the Carnaval, which are played much more often.

I give a special tip of the hat to Chopinoholic for taking on Novellette #2: I always ran out of gas trying to get through that one, although I think it's the most effective of these considerable pieces!

Thanks for all the info, Tim! I think with many pieces it's important to work on them, and then revisit them every few years as they become more and more natural to play. Too often I just keep moving onto new things and really I should do some revisiting

Thank you very kindly wimpiano for the comments.I am so glad that what I was trying to communicate in the music came across Love the bit about the party going badly/crazily after too much candy toward the end of Traumes-Wirren, that's exactly the right description.

Heather - This morning I downloaded a copy of the score for Opus 12 No. 5 and read through it -- slowly. Doing so greatly increased my appreciation of YOUR achievement in performing this challenging work. Bravo !!!!!!